Scott Cessna, the Director of the Altoona Railroaders Museum has announced that he is moving forward with plans to install a webcam at Horseshoe Curve. He plans to install it on the roof of the GP-9 so it can pan a good portion of the Curve…it will be live-streaming and could be remotely controlled by Museum Staff .A second cam MAY be installed in Altoona itself, facing West toward Alto Tower… A big plus in my opinion. Here is a link to Scott’s announcement: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/central_PA_railfan/message/6211 The only thing needed after this would be a live scanner feed like what exists at Harrisburg, and Pittsburgh via Railroadradio.net. Dave Williams http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nsaltoonajohnstown
…Wow…DW, that is great news…! What a place to have a web cam. That will be great and for us original Pennsylvania folks a chance to visit our great railroad location at the touch of a few controls…Haven’t gone to the web site you provided to read about it yet but this really is good news and hope it becomes a reality for sure…Thanks in advance to those making it happen.
Fantastic news! Can hardly wait!
A host for a live scanner feed in Enola has also suggested a live scanner feed for the Altoona area, and is offering technical assistance for getting one setup if someone were willing to host a feed there. Dave Williams http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nsaltoonajohnstown
when will be ready in the spring??? summer?? or when
kevin
Cool cant wait
stay safe
Joe
WOW! Can hardly wait to see it[:p]!
DW…fill me in on what “live streaming” entails…Is that simiar to the Rochelle unit…?
A webcam at Horseshoe Curve is a good idea, however, over the years trees and foliage have grown up around the curve restricting the view. Some trees and foliage were cut back last year, are there any further plans to trim more trees and foliage back this year?
Thats awsome i want to see it.
I am not aware of any specific additional cutting plans although when I was in, a month ago, there was some discussion from some railfans that a logger was volunteering to cut and remove more trees on the West side of the park. Have not seen evidence of that yet, unless anything was done over the past few weeks…Live streaming is the term Scott Cessna used in his post, he compared live streaming setup, instead of a setup that takes snapshots at intervals…I have not looked at any live streaming webcams yet, to explain the difference, but I believe that it means it would show actual movement of trains. like watching a videostream on a media player… plays video and reloads every 15 seconds or so…I’ll see if I can look further into the streaming definition. Dave Williams http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nsaltoonajohnstown
there is a live scanner feed for NS in the pittsburgh area on railroad radios.net…or what ever the sight for sure… i also think thier is the harrisburg line on its menu too…yea their is a harrisburg line feed on it…just looked at the menu as im typing here…
the webcam sounds like a cool idea… interesting to see what its like… i havent been around the curve in 7 years now… and the last time was in the cab of the amtrak train… now just need one someplace in pittsburgh… lots of action thier in a few places…
csx engineer
Cool! Unfortunately, now I’ll never get off my computer.
…Yes, those various live scanner feeds are really cool. And one can bring up the one of your choice and have it on listening and then go on and write email or whatever one cares to be doing at his computer and still listen to the scanner feed…Really great. And some of the responses {probably a DS or tower near by} are crystal clear. It is really a neat setup. Reminds me of being in Johnstown near the Old Pennsy with my scanner and listening to the DS, and towers up the line…{of a few years ago}…All great…
Yeah, I have been linking to that website for awhile now, and those streams in Harrisburg, Reading, and Pittsburgh…I have it as a link on my Altoona-Johnstown website. The host of the Harrisburg feed has offered a suggestion,and technical assistance to Scott Cessna about the idea of installing a scanner feed in Altoona. The Pittsburgh Feed is over 100 miles West of Altoona, and the Harrisburg feed covers the area well over 100 miles East. It would be a big plus to get a feed setup around Altoona…actually one feed in Altoona and another at Gallitzin or Johnstpwn would be great, to catch all the action around Alto, moves up the Nittany and Bald Eagle, moves on the Secondaries that branch off the main at Cresson, Portage, and South Fork. There is alot of action that could be heard with scanner feeds in this area. A separate host could host the Gallitzin and Johnstown feeds, as the Museum’s interests would lie with the Altoona-Horseshoe Curve segment. If I lived anywhere between Altoona and Johnstown, (which I likely will someday) I would host a feed in a heartbeat. Dave Williams http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nsaltoonajohnstown
timetable has not been announced yet…As Scott states in his announcement in my link at top of post, it will happen, timetable to be announced…I would hope that it would be within the next 6-12 months or so but that is pure speculation on my part. As soon as he announces it, it will be posted here. Dave Williams http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nsaltoonajohnstown
oh ok…i got you…sounds like you need to fill in the covorage gap… no time like the presant to see about what all is involoved in setting up your own online raido feed…u
Yeah…I would love to host one, but I live out of State… I think though, tht it is a golden opportunity to see if the Museum could sponsor one in Altoona, and see if someone else could sponsor one at the summit, or slightly West. A scanner feed in Altoona would pick up stuff between perhaps Bennington on the mountain, and Tyrone…you would need a second feed on the West-side of the summit to pick-up Cresson, South Fork…etc. Dave Williams http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nsaltoonajohnstown
A webcam at Horseshoe Curve sounds like a great idea! I’d be very anxious to see it when it’s ready.
One thing that has to happen! When the webcam is ready to be activated…LOCAL MEDIA!
Get them involved! It would make their heads spin. The local news agencies have absolutely NO IDEA what a rail buff is. And to have it explained to them that thousands across this world “WILL” log on to see trains rounding the Curve, well…the follow up human intrest stories would be endless.
I, myself, am on the TRAINS ON LOCATION HORSESHOE CURVE video tape not once, but twice.
People think of us as wierd. They have no idea how our hobby impacts an economy in a positive way.
Dan Valentine
“The Rat”